The province has filed a leave to appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada. They want that court to stay the Appeal Court’s order to unseal documents pertaining to the Alton Gas file in the meantime. - File

Thursday was supposed to be the day that the conquered people file would be made public for all to see, and NDP leader Gary Burrill was looking forward to it.

But those internal government documents that the Nova Scotia courts have ordered to be unsealed will remain secret, for now.

It’s been more than two-and-a-half years since then-provincial Crown lawyer Alex Cameron argued that the Mi’kmaq are a conquered people and as such the province had no duty to consult the Sipekne’katik First Nation Band in its decision to approve a plan by Alton Gas to store natural gas in salt caverns in Colchester County.

For Burrill, it’s inexcusable that the province has refused to release the file that will explain whether Cameron, who’s now suing the government and wants access to the documents, was acting on his own or whether the Justice Department played a role in putting forth the flawed argument.

“The government owes it, in my judgment, to the Mi’kmaq nation to demonstrate how this terrible error of judgment within the halls of the government was made,” said Burrill.

“The government ought to have said from the outset that we are not only sorry for this mistake, but we deeply disavow it. We repudiate it to such an extent that we will make open any information that is required so that everyone can see the path in mistake in judgment by which this error was reached.”

But on Wednesday, the province succeeded in a last-ditch request to the Supreme Court of Canada to keep the internal documents under wraps.

A Nova Scotia Court of Appeal decision July 4 ordered those documents to be unsealed Thursday. But the province has filed a leave to appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada and asked the high court to stay the Nova Scotia Appeal Court order in the meantime.

With the documents about to be released, the government submitted a letter to the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday, asking that its stay application be heard Thursday or that the documents remain sealed until the motion can be heard.

That means the documents will remain sealed until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case.

Outhouse declined to comment on the stay.

Several groups dissatisfied with sealed documents

Cameron was removed as government counsel in the Indigenous rights case in December 2016. Cameron has maintained that the sealed documents would prove he was not acting alone and he needed access to them to fairly pursue his claim against the province. Justice Duncan Beveridge ultimately sided with Cameron, dismissing the government’s right to invoke solicitor-client privilege, in his July 4 decision.

Conservative Leader Tim Houston has taken particular issue with the government’s lack of transparency on the file and didn’t mince words in a recent statement to The Chronicle Herald.

“The Liberals are so determined to hide information that they use the judicial system to punish anyone who dares to stand up and ask reasonable questions,” said Houston. “They have asked the highest court in the country to allow them to keep information secret that two Nova Scotia courts say they must release. There are no limits to Liberal secrecy.”

Responding to a firestorm of public criticism, Premier Stephen McNeil and his government condemned Cameron’s controversial argument. McNeil has insisted the lawyer was acting on his own.

On Wednesday McNeil was unavailable for comment. The Justice Department issued a statement confirming the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision saying the province takes its duty to consult with First Nations seriously. “As this is a matter before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” said the statement.

Peter Adema, director of operations with the Sipekne’katik Band, told the Herald back in May that he was frustrated by the legal saga and eager to see the documents that continue to be kept secret.

“Of course the province was trying to erode and ignore our rights,” said Adema. “What are they hiding?”